Hawaii….the trip that almost wasn’t

I want to recap our entire trip. I’ve shot so many photos, and I have a notebook with what we’ve done each day (my brother and I are both apparently major planners and needed this list.) My goal was to blog every day so I’d remember everything – and make scrapbooking that much easier! Needless to say, I haven’t had any time. By the time we get back to our room every night, I’m exhausted or have had one too many mai tais. Not tonight, though.

So let’s recap day one, a traveling day.

My grandma took us to the airport. I thought we were cutting it close by getting there at 5 for our 5:30 flight, but my mom didn’t seem to think that was a problem. We were dropped off, and the attendant took the suitcase right away before it missed the plane. She asked for my mom’s ID….and then my mom figured out she didn’t have it. Rather than freak out that she didn’t have that, I asked the attendant to get us on the 6:30 flight, while my mom started calling my grandma. The Delta attendant waived the $50 (per ticket) fees and moved us. I made dozens of calls to my friend and husband, neither of whom answered their phones. I thought I could get someone to get the license faster than grandma (who ended up driving back to the house, finally finding an old license – one that had been replaced because it was lost at one point – and driving BACK to the airport.)

Once we got through security, we didn’t wait long to board for the 6:30 plane. About 10 minutes after we were supposed to take off, the pilot told us that there was a mechanical problem, and they had called in a mechanic. The part that makes the plane turn right and left was broken. Obviously, that was a big problem. Everyone had to get off the plane and wait until they were reassigned or the plane was fixed. We were moved to the 7:30 flight. All was going well by that point. We were on the runway, about to take off, and I mentioned that the plane was at least moving, to which my mom replied, “and it’s moving in the right direction.” As soon as she said that, the plane stopped. The pilot told the passengers that Atlanta wasn’t ready for us, and that we had to sit there until 15 or 18 minutes after 8:00. At that point, I was a little concerned we’d miss our connecting flight. (We were originally supposed to be in Atlanta for 3 hours!)

Once in Atlanta, we had to RUN from our concourse to the train and down the next concourse, and we were two of the last people to board. We met up with my mom’s friend Karen and her friend Tammy and made our way to Los Angeles.

At this point, my brother knew all about the license fiasco. And my mom learned about my Twitter account. I think her comment was “what did you do, post it on Facebook or your blog?” I told her it went to Twitter 🙂

After three longgggg hours in LA, we jumped back on a plane for a six-hour flight to Honolulu. We were lucky that they did show “The Blind Side” so there was some sort of entertainment. But we were delayed again in the air.

The plane finally landed around 6:45 p.m. and I’ve never been that happy to be on the ground. Jason met us at the airport with leis, and took us to our hotel, the Hale Koa hotel. It’s like a military resort. They have EVERYTHING here. Pools, private beach access, three restaurants/bars, a store (with no tax on items – and most of the prices are way cheaper than regular grocery stores or gift shops.) It really is pretty amazing.

Day one wasn’t a total bust. I’m telling you, though. We really did watch our vacation flash before our eyes, and had it not been for my grandma, we may not be in Hawaii at this time.